Germany has been held up by renewable energy zealots as the shining example of how to run on sunshine and breezes. However, like its doppelgänger down under, South Australia, eventually and inevitably, reality bites.

German householders and businesses (just like those in South Australia) are being belted by rocketing power prices and – every time the sun goes down or the wind stops blowing – grid managers have the pull-out all stops to prevent the grid from collapsing.

In South Australia, the first spell of hot weather is barely a month away, which will bring with it inevitable mass load-shedding and, if the grid manager loses control of the situation, yet another total ‘system black’.

In Germany too, there’s a growing sense of panic about what happens next.

In this NoTricksZone piece a top engineering professor, Dr Ing Hans-Günter Appel, who is clearly apprehensive about Germany’s energy future, points out the bleeding obvious: you can’t run an economy on sunshine and breezes.

Engineering Professor Believes German ‘Energiewende’ Close To Death As Inadequacies Become Glaring
No Tricks Zone
Pierre Gosselin
25 October 2017

Just a few years ago, no party dared to express doubts over the Energiewende (Germany’s transition to green energies), or to question it for fear of being accused of environmental blasphemy and treason. But as the technical and economic problems of the Energiewende become ever more glaring, people and politicians are now speaking up.

So far Germany has installed some 100,000 MW of wind and solar capacity, more than enough to more than supply the country during a windy and sunny day. But unfortunately the sun doesn’t shine 24 hours a day and the wind often stops blowing, sometimes for days and even weeks. They cannot be relied on. At times these two source of energy put out almost zero power.

The ‘green’ energies of wind and sun are horribly inefficient and with Germany’s electricity rates at close to 30 euro-cents for each kilowatt-hour, they are among the world’s highest. Worse, there’s no end in sight to the price spiral, which happens to be the opposite of what citizens had originally been promised. Appel writes:

The prices have been rising year after year, and in a few years will exceed 50 euro cents per kilowatt-hour if the Energiewende continues as planned by the federal government.

1 coal energy worker = 20 green energy workers

The engineering professor also warns that the country’s grid stability is becoming increasingly precarious, and that preventing a collapse is getting tougher with each passing year.

As this is becoming ever more apparent even to technical laypersons, Appel writes that one huge obstacle against reform is the sheer ignorance by Germany’s ideologically-driven politicians, such as Green Party politicians Jürgen Trittin and Bärbel Höhn, who for example majored in sociology mathematics. They have near zero understanding of power grid technology.

For example, Dr. Appel cites Ms Höhn, who considers it a success that in renewable energies 370,000 workers are working to deliver 33% of the nation’s power. Coal power plants on the other hand employ just 20,000 and deliver some 40%. Dr. Appel writes:

One cannot imagine a better description for the senseless Energiewende policy. Using these figures it takes 20 green power workers to produce the same energy as a single conventional power worker.

But there is hope. Some politicians are now beginning to understand the huge threats posed by green energies and are now starting to notice the “growing resistance against the impacts of the Energiewende“.

Appel writes that the message could even be finally reaching Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has been stunningly oblivious to the glaring problems of the Energiewende. Appel comments:

Rarely do we hear anymore the words climate rescue and Energiewende from the Chancellor. These are being mostly excluded.

Comments

Encouraging… but most of our political betters are deliberately obtuse when it comes to climate change and renewable energy. Combine that with backbones made of jelly and the remaining States of Oz will replicate what South Australia did which was to replicate what Germany and Denmark did. The Greens, our ABC and the Fairfax media can be given some latitude as they are not deliberately obtuse. They simply all share the one brain cell and are seldom within range of each other. Consequently we will probably get in as deep as Germany before the LNP is brave enough to take the plunge and do what is right – about 2035. A tad late to save the economy but we will fix the housing affordability crisis – most of us will be living in caves, air conditioned ones at that.

Yesterday at around 1.50pm I logged onto the AEMO Data Dashboard and Lo and Behold there it was Queensland’s ‘dirty’ energy production was all that was keeping the Eastern Grid alive (Qld, NSW, Vic, Tas and SA). Queensland was pumping energy into NSW who took what they needed and passed it on to Victoria, who did the same passing it on to Tasmania and SA.
Renewables were not up to providing sufficient energy and all but Queensland had a Demand for energy greater than could be met from any of their individual State sources.
What if SA’s renewables supply from wind failed completely and their miniscule gas production not able to rev up sufficiently to keep the lights on.
Batteries are not going to be sufficient to keep the lights on and businesses running for anything other than very short periods.
Money wasted on installing batteries instead of funding reliable energy supply will come back and bite every country if their leaders continue to turn a blind eye to the truth. The truth that they have been conned by a very slick money hungry industry that realized the groaning of pseudo environmentalists was an opportunity to push their industry to frightened little Politicians who only wanted a hook to hang their hat on to get elected. These companies were also well aware there were voters who could easily be utilised as their ‘worker bees’ going around hugging cold impersonal towers of steel and crying with crocodile tears that everyone should hug these lumps of cold steel to save the world.
A famous political cry from years gone by here in Australia is very apt today – “IT’S TIME’ its time to stop this madness and return to sensible common-sense political management of our Nations, its time our leaders began to lead instead of being led.

OUR POLITICIANS MUST BE TOLD, LOOK IN THE MIRROR THIS TRUTH IS YOU: POLITICIANS, ALL ………. TIME TO LOOK INTO THE MIRROR BECAUSE THIS IS YOU: “The engineering professor also warns that the country’s grid stability is becoming increasingly precarious, and that preventing a collapse is getting tougher with each passing year.

As this is becoming ever more apparent even to technical laypersons, Appel writes that one huge obstacle against reform is the sheer ignorance by Germany’s ideologically-driven politicians, such as Green Party politicians Jürgen Trittin and Bärbel Höhn, who for example majored in sociology mathematics. They have near zero understanding of power grid technology.”